Four Hours of River Wading

[IcatchDinks]

I've been itching for a little adventure to kinda break the same day to day, week to week routine I've been in. I wake up every morning feeling like I'm in Ground Hog Day or Source Code or any other film using the repeating time trope. I wanted something special. So I drove down to the river and spent four hours wading a quarter mile of the river. The only really exciting part of the trip was that I nearly sank to my waste in a quicksand-like mud at the bottom of the river. Fortunately, I was within arms reach of the bank, and grabbed onto the foliage and bushes lining the river to pull myself out. Unfortunately, most of the foliage happened to be stinging nettles. I had a friendly encounter with a very large snapping turtle, and caught five fish in total, two of them on a swim bait half their size. 

 

The first two fish came on a Texas rigged Yum Dinger:

 

Then I switched to the swim bait hoping to hook into some pike. Instead I got two small but very ferocious small mouth. 

 

I then tried the whopper-plopper and broke it off in a tree. I may have cursed a few curse words. But thankfully I got it back after knocking the branch it was on with my fishing pole. 

 

I fished for another hour without so much as a bite. Switched back to the Yum Dinger and caught a fat rock bass that jumped out of my hands before I could take a picture. And then it was silent from then on out. I did get to witness a spectacular fly hatch just before the sun went down. The river looked like it was snowing. I assume that's why the bite went dead. 

 

I was a good evening. My legs and back are sore. But the good kind of sore that comes from good, long physical exertion. No monsters today. But I'll be back. I know they're in there. 

[bowhunter63]

Love Wading the river. I do it weekly keeps me young 

[thediscochef]

That quicksand experience is what keeps me wary of wading too much in the silted up reservoirs we have here. I would love to do it more. Nice!

[IcatchDinks]

@thediscochefI only started wading this year, and I've learned that you have to be super vigilant. The Chippewa is pretty tame, but it has a few nasty surprises. I knew the mud near the bank was kinda sketchy, but I was super shocked at how far I'd sunk by the time I got my fish unhooked and my gear resituated. (that first pic of the fish on the backpack is when I was sinking.) I've never gone that deep before. Then, when I tried to pull my leg out, I only shoved the other one further. I knew I wasn't in serious trouble because I had solid ground with plenty of hand holds right in front of me. But there are places like that in deeper water. 

[Darth-Baiter]

growing up i would watch the old black/white Tarzan shows.  the quicksand events facinated me.

 

it was years later when i was sitting in a soil mechanics class, and the professor explained the phenomenon to us.  blew my mind.  very cool.  but the tarzan situations were pure hollywood.  hahahha

 

 

[TOXIC]

Believe it or not, the same phenomenon can happen with corn storage.  I used to own a pest control company and I specialized in grain fumigations.  When treating a 300,000 bushel bin, you had to be hyper aware of the condition of the stored corn or it could swallow you up just like quicksand and then it was game over. 

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, TOXIC said:

Believe it or not, the same phenomenon can happen with corn storage.  I used to own a pest control company and I specialized in grain fumigations.  When treating a 300,000 bushel bin, you had to be hyper aware of the condition of the stored corn or it could swallow you up just like quicksand and then it was game over. 

They just finished building a state of the the art grain silo safety training facility near my in laws house, it’s not an uncommon cause of death 

[Swamp Girl]

20 hours ago, IcatchDinks said:

Unfortunately, most of the foliage happened to be stinging nettles.

 

YIKES! Are you okay?

[IcatchDinks]

8 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

YIKES! Are you okay?

Yeah. I'm good. It stung for the rest of the evening and I felt it this morning, but it's pretty much gone. A few red welts on my forearms, but I don't feel it anymore.